In Memory

Mark Lodenkamp



 
  Post Comment

06/08/16 01:22 PM #1    

Terri Goodwin (McDonnell)

Posted: July 20, 2003

Sixteen-year-old Rachael Lodenkamp played Johann Pachelbel's "Canon in D" on her concert harp, one of her father's favorite pieces, as family members and friends celebrated Mark Lodenkamp's life at a funeral service in Green Bay last week.

Her music was one part of a musical and verbal tribute to a man who, with his wife, Maria, and their four children, formed a family Christian music ministry known as For His Honor. More than 300 people, many of whom had been touched by his kindness and the family's ministry at area churches, crowded into the Proko-Wall Funeral Home for the service Wednesday, according to the family.

Mark Lodenkamp, 45, died Sunday at the family's home in the Nicolet National Forest in Mountain, two miles from the nearest neighbor and about a 75-minute drive northwest of Green Bay. He had been battling illness since early 2002, when he was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer that had spread to his ribs, spine and hips.

Rachael Lodenkamp said her father left it up to her to decide whether she would play her harp at his funeral.

"I really wanted to because it was one of the last gifts I wanted to give him," she said.

Will her father have a continuing influence on her life?

"The way he treated rich or poor, he treated them the same, with friendship and love, really beautifully," she said. "So, I want to be like that, too. He made everybody feel very welcome and comfortable."

Mark Lodenkamp suffered severe pain in his final months, but he and his family met that with their faith.

"The last words he said, on Saturday afternoon, were, 'I want to see the Lord,' " Maria Lodenkamp said. "And then he turned to me and he said, 'I love you. . . . I love my family.' And then he said, 'Goodbye.' "

He became increasingly unresponsive and died the next morning, she said.

"It was very, very peaceful, the last week," she added. "We were at his bedside reading Scripture, praying, and singing to him. Our son, Jonathan, played the piano hours for him."

Mark Lodenkamp helped plan his funeral, which included music performed by the children of longtime family friends, a video memory book and a friend singing "Refiner's Fire."

"We never lost hope, and we never asked God, 'Why?,' " Maria Lodenkamp said. "We trusted Him to the end, but Mark did have those preferences if there was going to be a funeral.

"Mark, through the whole thing said, 'God is good.' Now I see God's grace is sufficient. . . . People were expecting me to be falling apart, but even though there were tears, I was focusing on the 20 years I had with this man of wisdom. I'm thankful to God for the 20 years that I had and not asking, 'Can I have 10 more?' "

The children - Rachael, Jonathan, 15, Rebekah, 13, and Esther, 10 - are home-schooled by their mother and play various musical instruments. About 21/2 years ago, their father left his business, M & M Windshield Repair, to devote himself full time to the family ministry.

They traveled locally and to other parts of the country, with the children performing soft, meditative music - hymns, classical and some contemporary Christian works. Mark Lodenkamp added Scripture readings and his inspirational reflections for the congregations' adults and told Bible-based stories to the children. His wife shared her faith, too.

Burial was in Woodlawn Cemetery in Green Bay.

Born in Oak Park, Ill., he graduated from Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, Ill., attended the University of Hawaii, and graduated from the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1976-'80.

Other survivors include two sisters, Laurie Anne McFadden and Katherine Greenstein; a stepmother, Lee Lodenkamp; a stepsister, Mary Cipriano; two stepbrothers, Daniel Vesely and Michael Vesely; and a half sister, Sherry Wenzel.

Mark Lodenkamp had requested, in lieu of flowers, that people make donations to For His Honor, P.O. Box 143, Mountain, WI 54149.


  Post Comment